RIAT 2024 – 50th, 60th, 75th, 100th, Celebrations for Everybody!
Report and photos by Gabriele Rivera
September 25, 2024
I’ve missed RIAT the past four years, and so I’ve thought that coming back this summer could be a good idea. Being a huge event, one has to decide ahead of the start date, when almost nothing is known about who the participants will be; only the themes are known, being chosen a year before, just when the previous show ends.
These themes were quite promising: NATO 75th and F-16 Fighting Falcon 50th anniversaries, plus “pushing the boundaries in Air and Space”. Add to these the 50th anniversary of the first flights of the Panavia Tornado, the BAe Hawk, and the foundation of the Qatar Air Force, the 60th birthday of the Red Arrows and the Patrouille Suisse and the centenary of the Royal Canadian Air Force; for sure you obtain one of those editions that can’t be missed!
OK, spoiler alert, this year’s airshow will be remembered as one of those that must be inscribed in the roster of the best ones, also because, in contrast with the forecast, the weather has been mostly sunny for the entire duration, except on Saturday.
Those who have had the opportunity to attend since the very first day (I was not among them) have been rewarded with several first order arrivals, one above all, a B-52 arriving from Barksdale; all those who have missed this experience have hoped until Monday, the departures day, to see her leaving Fairford, but unluckily for them (and me too) the BUFF was scheduled to leave not before Wednesday.
Friday airshow has offered several performances not going to be repeated during the weekend; a fly-by celebrating NATO anniversary, composed by an airplane of each NATO member present at Fairford, leaded by a RAF’s RC-135 Rivet Joint and a NATO E-3 AWACS. This parade included also one of every F-16 taking part to the exhibition, celebrating at the same time the F-16 50th anniversary.
Once landed, the F-16s have been arranged in a perfectly aligned row, consisting of 16 airplanes, sourced from seven countries (USA, Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Romania, Jordan and Morocco). A few meters away, separated by the operative area barrier, other four ships were parked, waiting for their turn to perform; two were Danish (one sporting a celebrative painting immediately beloved by many) and two were the famous SoloTurk demo airplanes, regular guest of many European airshows.
The production blocks of the Vipers (the nickname adopted by the pilots’ community instead of Fighting Falcon) ranged from the first ones (Belgian, Dutch, Jordan and Romanian were Block 15, most of them updated to Block 20 MLU) to newer ones (USAF Block 50, Greek and Moroccan Block 52), sporting the Conformal Fuel Tanks and the dorsal spine containing additional electronics. This gives a plastic evidence about how much the initial project has evolved, from being an air defence light fighter to becoming a multirole medium fighterbomber.
The Friday flight program offered also a big surprise: to watch not one but two U-2’s taking off, landing and backtracking on the runway, together with the Dodge Charger following the plane during the landing, helping the pilot to keep the wings leveled until the right speed to let one wingtip to touch the ground is reached. A Dragon Lady has been exhibited in the static area during the weekend, near an interesting RC-135W arrived from Offutt AFB.
The celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Qatar Emiri Air Force have brought to Fairford several airplanes: a C-17, three Hawks, two Typhoons and an NH-90. Most of these assets are based in UK, serving in mixed units where the Brits train the Qatar personnel to operate them. But this celebration has also made it possible to have the opportunity to watch the dynamic performance of two new F-15QA Ababil, the latest expression of an airplane that has abundantly demonstrated the potential of her initial design. One exceptional future has been the demo program of one out of the two, carrying twelve inert AIM-120 AMRAAMs under the wings and the fuselage. The two airplanes, arrived few days before from the USA, were still completing the test flights needed to open their flight envelope and to check other features before the official delivery to the Qatar Emiri Air Force.
One other anniversary, the Tornado first flight, has been celebrated by two airplanes, an Italian and a German ones, painted with schemes dedicated to the fifty years spent since the initial flight. The Tornado is an aircraft beloved by the European crowds attending airshows and exercises; being confined to the static display only, their landings and Monday take-offs have been passionately waited, and when their time arrived, the noise and duration of the thousands of cameras’ bursts has been quite impressive.
The BAe Hawk has been subject to a couple of anniversaries: the Red Arrows 60th year since their first exhibition and the celebration of the 50 years spent since the maiden flight of this successful product of the British aviation industry. While the Red Arrows have flown each day, including two celebrative formations, one with the Canadian CF-188 and another one with the Patrouille Suisse, on Saturday the recurrence of the Hawk 50th anniversary has been celebrated with a mixed formation of the Hawks present in Fairford; a Red Arrow, a RAF trainer and a Qatari one (both with their awesome glossy black paint), a Saudi Hawk and a Finnish Midnight Hawk.
The Midnight Hawk have exhibited with a quite unusual paint scheme; three out of four were painted in white and red, while the fourth sported the usual grey camo. This year formation was composed of newer Mk.66 airplanes, taking the place of the older Mk.51.
The Royal Canadian Air Force has brought several aircraft in order to celebrate their centennial; together with a bunch of heavies (a CC-150T Polaris, a CC-177 Globemaster, a CC-130J Hercules, and a glowing yellow CC-295 Kingfisher), two CF-188A Hornet have delighted the crowd with their powerful and aggressive exhibition. While on Friday the performing Hornet was a grey camo one, the celebrative special color has flown both the following days, closing the exhibition with a heritage flight in formation with a Spitfire, a Mk.Vb brought to Fairford by the renowned Fighter Collection. Another airplane, lent by the Royal Norwegian Historical Squadron and sporting Canadian insignia, was a de Havillan Vampire FB.52.
Needless to say, other crowd favorites were the Turkish and Greek Phantoms; the Hellenics’ landing has been preceded by a couple of flyover and powerful turns, which perhaps have stressed too much the wrappings on the tails and on the underwing tanks. On Sunday afternoon the static area where the Greek Spookies were parked has been particularly bustling till closing time, thanks to crew’s complicity.
Another magnet for the crowd has been the B-52; taking a picture with no one walking around the massive aircraft has been simply impossible!
Let’s close this recollection with one of this year’s themes, “Air & Space: pushing the boundaries”; in the dedicated area it was possible to observe aircraft dedicated to study the environment, test new equipment and other scientific tasks. Among them a BAe 146-301, operated by the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, and an Avro RJ100, operated by Qinetiq, equipped with a “fast jet” radome, presumably to flight test a new radar installation. But the airplane which has got my attention was an overall red DHC-6 Twin Otter, operated by the British Antarctic Survey. Her presence at RIAT has been a lucky coincidence due to her maintenance schedule; in order to reach her UK base, she has flown 11,806 nautic miles from Rothera Research Station in Antarctica, stopping off in 16 airports along the route back home.
As usual, here is the list of the assigned flying display awards:
The Paul Bowen Trophy (in memory of RIAT’s co-founder for the Best Solo Jet Demonstration)
Capt Caleb “Tango” Robert of the Royal Canadian Air Force, in his CF-188 Hornet.
The Sir Douglas Bader Trophy (Best Individual Flying Display)
Maj. Ettore Pasini, Maj. Francesco Buscemi, CMSgt. Giuseppe Civica of the Italian Air Force, in their C-27J Spartan.
The RAFCTE Trophy (Best Flying Demonstration by an Overseas Participant)
Lt Cdr Andres Medina Gonzalez Del Tanago of the Spanish Navy, in his EAV-8B Matador II.
The Steedman Display Sword (British participant with the most notable contribution to RIAT)
Lt Scott Sunderland & Lt Michael Vivian of the Royal Navy, in their Black Cats.
The As the Crow Flies Trophy (Best Overall Flying Demonstration, judged by FRIAT)
Jason Dotter, Matt Giese, Kevin Tinsley, Michael Quintini, Boeing display crews, flying the Boeing F-15QA Ababil of the Qatar Emiri Air Force.
The Best Livery Trophy (Best Special Paint Scheme, judged by FRIAT)
The CF-188 Hornet of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
The King Hussein Memorial Sword (Most Polished & Precise Flying Display)
The Patrouille Suisse, led by Major Michael Duft.
Honourable Mention/Signed Print
For a crew which overcame many challenges, including two unserviceable airframes, and still delivered an impressive display of a 50 year of aircraft type. A special mention award for the crews of the Royal Danish Air Force, F-16 Solo Display.
His interest in photography arose a few years later, when he bought from a colleague his first single-lens reflex camera, a Pentax ME Super. Then everyday life took its toll; working as an IT analyst, studying for an MD in political science and starting a family left no time for enjoying his old interest for aviation. One day in 2008, he decided to revive the passion, starting again to take pictures of aircraft each time he has a chance. Now, using Canon gear, he is striving to become a photojournalist.
Gabriele can be reached at: [email protected]